Sync errors all the time when syncing the windows documents folder

Seafile Client
1

Hi
This happens all the time for me in several computers:
image

It goes away after a while, the problem is it can’t index My Pictures, My Music, My Videos at some point, but those don’t really exist or are moved after boot, not really sure but it’s really annoying.

Also the fact that it shows as a warning despite being syncing normally is really annoying, it should clear that status on it’s own once syncing worked.

2

I also have the same problem

3

Do you mean the files are actually all synced but the warning still persists?

4

Yes, you have to manually press Ignore sync errors every time.

5

We’ll improve it in the future. Such error should be auto removed after the file eventually make it to the server.

6

Those folders are special folders, and even though you cannot see them in windows explorer, if you were to try to create a folder with those names you get an error.

Regarless, Seafile should know about this and workaround this fact somehow.

7

Same issue here. I can’t see these subfolders even when viewing hidden files. Must be a Windows thing - really wish Seafile would ignore those special subfolders or let me choose to ignore any arbitrary error going forward.

image
image697×354 10.5 KB

8

I found a workaround which is to temporarily show hidden files and unhide protected operating system files. Then delete the problem shortcuts. These shortcuts exist for a reason, however, so only delete them if you know they won’t break something on your system. Their purpose is to retain compatibility with Windows XP era software which expected photos, music, etc, to reside within Documents.

image
image914×853 31.3 KB

and

image
image935×600 46.7 KB

image
image648×773 30.1 KB

9

Hi,

which version of windows and seafile client are you using? We were not able to reproduce this issue on Windows 11 and seafile 9.0.13.

10

9.0.13 on 5 machines between 2 people
IIRC it doesn’t happen immediately on first sync. After rebooting it starts.

11

Hi,

which version of windows are you using?

12

Windows 11. They were all up-to-date at the time.

13

Hi @TechnicallyReal ,

thanks, and can you send the client’s log to us, you can right-click the tray icon and then select “Open Log Folder.”

You can send the logs to support@seafile.com.

14

frankly this is something anyone can reproduce, I still see it in some clients…

15

This issue is known to occur when syncing the Windows “Documents” folder because it contains hidden legacy junction points (like My Music, My Pictures, and My Videos) that Windows restricts access to. When the Seafile client attempts to index these, it often triggers an “Access Denied” or “Error when indexing” warning.

Recent client versions (specifically 9.0.18 and later) include optimizations to better handle and automatically clear these types of indexing errors. If you haven’t already, please try upgrading to the latest version.

As a more permanent workaround to suppress these specific warnings, you can add these folders to a seafile-ignore.txt file in the root of your library:

My Music
My Pictures
My Videos

This will prevent the client from attempting to index those system junctions.